The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 460 - 428: Abbot Cunxin Is Actually Mr. Liu? (Part 1)
Princess Consort Qi sat in Yutang Palace for half an hour before leaving.
Song Yuanbao saw her going far away and only then found the opportunity to come to the main hall. He saw Zhao Xi holding a charcoal pencil and sketching something. As he walked over and looked, it turned out to be the mechanical beast he had seen that day at Elder Qi’s place, only it didn’t quite resemble it.
Song Yuanbao sat across from him, poured himself a cup of tea, and asked Zhao Xi nonchalantly, "Regarding today’s assassin, what does His Highness think?"
Zhao Xi’s hand holding the pen slowed down, "The Imperial Family is thin in descendants. If anything happens to me, it’s not good for many people, including the Empress."
Song Yuanbao: "So you mean the Su Family is excluded?"
Zhao Xi agreed.
Empress Su’s greatest desire is to kill his mother and, in a straightforward manner, have him raised under her name, rather than kill him.
"Then, who is in such a hurry to take His Highness’s life?"
Zhao Xi smiled softly, "It’s naturally the person who can benefit from my death."
Song Yuanbao had a bold guess, but dared not speak it.
He suspected Princess Consort Duan, but Princess Consort Duan had lived in the Song family for half a year before, and she didn’t seem like a ruthless person.
As he was lost in thought, Zhao Xi had already raised his hand and wrote a character on the rice paper.
Song Yuanbao craned his neck to see: Liang.
Princess Consort Duan happened to have the surname Liang.
"Can’t be, right?" Song Yuanbao still didn’t want to believe it.
Zhao Xi looked over and reminded him, "Don’t forget, the background of Princess Consort Duan’s family isn’t weak either."
The current Prime Minister, Yang Zhen, is Princess Consort Duan’s uncle. Such a background is indeed strong.
"Is His Highness suspecting that this time it’s the Liang Family who made the move?"
"This possibility cannot be ruled out."
Clearly having deduced the culprit, Zhao Xi still acted as if nothing was wrong, speaking with unhurried words.
He was calm, but Song Yuanbao was anxious, "Then what are you going to do?"
"Wait."
"Wait?" Song Yuanbao’s eyes widened, "You surely can keep your cool, even with the knife at your throat?"
"Liang Family wants me dead to pave the way for the Second Prince. I can’t chase after a baby for accountability, and currently, Father hasn’t given me the right to participate in government affairs. With my skills, I can’t deal with the Prime Minister." Zhao Xi said, "What I can do is wait for Father to nod and let me participate, and only when I have a firm footing in the court can I have the right to speak."
Song Yuanbao propped his chin, "His Highness is already fifteen years old, and if you just speak, the Emperor will agree to let you participate in government affairs, right?"
"Me speaking up and Father proactively speaking up are two entirely different things."
"Alright then." Song Yuanbao believed that this person had his own plans, and no longer tangled with the matter of the assassin, but turned to ask about Xue Yinhuan.
"His Highness, now that you have a concubine, will there be a main wife in three years?"
Listening to his tone, Zhao Xi raised his eyes again, "Why, afraid my main wife will crowd you out and you’ll have no place to stay?"
"What kind of joke? I won’t be staying in the palace forever. When you marry a main wife, I’ll almost be taking the palace exam, and His Highness said that at eighteen, you’d let me leave the palace. Oh right, don’t forget that huge cold bed, make sure it gets transported out for me as well."
What Song Yuanbao continued to say, Zhao Xi did not hear, because he suddenly thought of something and asked Song Yuanbao, "If you were about to pass away and hide something extremely important, how would you ensure that even after hundreds of years, future generations could accurately locate it?"
The topic changed too fast, nearly catching Song Yuanbao off guard, suspiciously gazing at him, "How important?"
"Important enough to affect the country’s fate for future generations."
Song Yuanbao fell into contemplation.
In hundreds of years, seas change to mulberry fields and fields change to seas; positions can be fixed, but terrain will change, hiding it underground may make it hard to find.
"If it were me, I’d surely find a Pagoda Temple, one that wouldn’t topple for hundreds of years." This was the conclusion Song Yuanbao reached after deep thought.
Pagoda Temple, Zhao Xi had considered it, but there are too many ancient temples left by the Jin Dynasty now. Without directional indications, where to find it?
It seems that they still have to wait for Master Tuo Mo to uncover the double-layer painting to know exactly where Mr. Liu hid the schematic.
Seeing Zhao Xi remain silent, Song Yuanbao asked again, "Are you guys looking for something? Could it be the mechanical beast schematic Elder Qi mentioned last time?"
Zhao Xi trusted Song Yuanbao’s character, not worrying he’d casually leak it, and nodded. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
Song Yuanbao suddenly laughed, "If I could design such exquisite mechanical beasts, I’d definitely create a grand apparatus to seal the schematic layer by layer, preventing easy access; otherwise, if it fell into the hands of evil people, the world would be thrown into chaos."
Song Yuanbao’s words sparked a sudden inspiration in Zhao Xi, and he suddenly said, "Follow me."
"For what?" Song Yuanbao asked, somewhat perplexed.
"To view the paintings," Zhao Xi had Eunuch Sanbao prepare a soft sedan chair and took Song Yuanbao straight to Qianqing Palace.
Today is the first day of the year, a rare day off for the Emperor; after the grand assembly at 5 a.m., he went to Princess Consort Duan’s Yonghe Palace to see the Second Prince, Zhao Nuo.
When Zhao Xi brought Song Yuanbao over, Emperor Guangxi and Mr. Cui were both absent.
The young eunuch left to guard Qianqing Palace explained the situation to Zhao Xi.
Zhao Xi said, "I’m not here to see Father. There’s something I left behind here that I’m here to retrieve."
"This..." The young eunuch was quite troubled; with Manager Cui not present, he didn’t dare make a decision to let the Eldest Prince in.
Zhao Xi looked at him, his tone somewhat cold, "If you delay my important affairs, can you bear the responsibility?"
The young eunuch didn’t dare offend the Eldest Prince, and eventually, he let the two inside.
Zhao Xi knew where his father hid the paintings and quickly retrieved all four, hanging them one by one on the wall.
He was surprised to find that last night, when he looked at them with Song Wei, he could easily sense the existence of images within images, but now, upon looking again, he couldn’t find them at all.
He immediately associated it with a matter of lighting and angle; perhaps because it’s now daytime, the painting beneath couldn’t be seen.
Song Yuanbao’s gaze swept over the four paintings one by one, finally fixing on Ten Thousand Miles Spring, the one he found most familiar.
Back in Ningzhou, his father’s mentor stayed at the Song family for quite some time solely because of it.
Although Song Yuanbao didn’t understand why his father’s paintings would appear in the Emperor’s bedchamber, with the four hanging together, something felt quite off to him.
Pointing at "Thousand Feet Snow," Song Yuanbao asked, "Why does the sentiment of this painting differ from the other three?" He wasn’t sure if he was overthinking it, but he always felt Mr. Liu’s painting seemed to depict himself; yet since when did Mr. Liu become a monk?
Thousand Feet Snow is the Winter Night Monk Knocking on the Door for Lodging, while the other three are Mountain Stream Orchid, Misty Birds, and Pine Crane Painting.
Squinting, Song Yuanbao said, "My father told me Mr. Liu’s four paintings are a set, but to my eye, they only seem like a set by name, their content doesn’t seem connected at all."
"The names are quite peculiar," Zhao Xi said. "They don’t match the paintings."
Song Yuanbao contemplated once more, "At first glance, the four names seem like metaphors for seasons, but thinking again, it doesn’t add up. What exactly is Hundred Inches Heart?"
Zhao Xi shook his head, clearly also at a loss.
Not daunted by the inconclusive research, he wasn’t disheartened; once Master Tuo Mo arrives, the truth should emerge.
The two didn’t linger long before leaving Qianqing Palace and returned to their studies as usual.
...
The last time Song Wei took Wen Wan to Fahua Temple to consult Master Xu Yun about Wen Wan’s foresight ability, Master Xu Yun hinted that it wouldn’t be long before Wen Wan would have joyful news.
Now truly expecting, Song Wei found it necessary to meet the master again.
After discussing with Wen Wan, they used some time off during the New Year holiday to visit Mile Mountain once more.
Before seeing Master Xu Yun, they ran into Su Yaoqi, who had just returned from the back mountain.
Wen Wan looked puzzled, "Last time I saw you, you also came back from the back mountain, is the young monk cultivating there?"
Su Yaoqi shook his head, "The back mountain enshrines the statue of the first Abbot, Cunxin. My master instructs me to go there to clean from time to time."
"Abbot Cunxin?" Song Wei quickly caught the key information, "Does Fahua Temple have an abbot named Cunxin?"
Su Yaoqi nodded; he also found the name unusual the first time he heard it, "I asked my master about it once. He said Fahua Temple was called Huguo Temple during the Jin Dynasty, and the first Abbot’s Dharma name was Cunxin, the only abbot with a statue to this day. As for why there’s a statue, only Master may know."
Wen Wan sensed something was off with the man beside her and softly asked, "Husband, what’s wrong?"
Song Wei came back to himself and smiled at her, "It’s nothing, let’s go see Master Xu Yun first."
...
Even with pilgrims flocking the temple, Song Wei and Wen Wan did not wait long to meet the venerable Master Xu Yun.
The master had just returned from preaching and greeted the couple with a Buddhist gesture, his face bearing a kindly smile, as though he had been expecting them.
Song Wei had many questions about that abbot and went straight to the point once in the Zen room, setting other matters aside, "Earlier outside the Zen Courtyard, I heard Young Monk Shikong mention Abbot Cunxin; could the master tell me his story?"
Master Xu Yun smiled slightly, "Since the benefactor asked about him, perhaps you already have the answer in your heart."
The usually composed Song Wei showed a look of astonishment, "Could it be that my speculation is correct, and Abbot Cunxin is indeed Mr. Liu himself?"
